James Webb telescope starts studying exoplanet with signs of life
Kyiv • UNN
The James Webb Space Telescope has begun exploring the exoplanet K2-18b, which is twice the size of Earth and located 120 light-years away, as it may contain biosignatures in its atmosphere that indicate potential signs of life.
The James Webb Space Telescope has begun to study the exoplanet K2-18b. It is twice the size of the Earth and is located at a distance of 120 light years from us. The planet attracted special attention of astronomers because biosignatures were found in its atmosphere. This was reported by The Times, according to UNN.
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The K2-18b super-Earth is twice the size of the Earth and 2.5 times larger in diameter. It takes only 33 days to complete a full rotation, while the Earth takes 365 days. This planet is located 124 light years from ours.
This makes it a relatively close neighbor by galactic standards, although it will take the probe 2.2 million years to reach it at 38,000 miles per hour - the speed of the Voyager spacecraft
Astronomers speculate that K2-18b may belong to a common type of ocean planet. Such objects are almost completely covered with water, and their atmosphere contains a lot of hydrogen, among other compounds. This hypothesis is also to be confirmed or refuted by James Webb.
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Last year, James Webb discovered evidence that K2-18b could be a "hickey" and that its atmosphere contains traces of the biomarker dimethyl sulfide. According to scientists, this compound can only be produced by living organisms.
This gas has only one source on Earth. It is produced only by life, mainly phytoplankton in the marine environment
Some members of the scientific community are quite skeptical about the possibility of life on K2-18b, given the potential high temperatures on the planet. In their opinion, such conditions could bring its ocean to a standstill. A number of scientists also admit that the exoplanet is covered with a lava ocean rather than water.
